In electronic devices, a printed circuit board is usually employed to carry various electronic components for carrying out several functions. The component density now is becoming higher and higher in order to achieve more functions with less space. This requires the mechanical structure to be compact and efficient. To this end, the different portions of the printed circuit board are modularized and connected together perpendicularly.
FIGS. 1A and 1B show an assembled printed circuit board in accordance with the prior art. Several child boards 1 are held on a mother board 7 by guide rails 2 and 3. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the guide rails 2 are placed perpendicularly to a front side of the mother board 7 and fixed by screws 5 on the opposed back side of the mother board 7. The guide rails 3 are mounted perpendicularly on the mother board 7 with lock heads 6 passing through holes of the mother board 7 to the back side and with lock wings 4 against the front side. The child boards 1 are supported and locked between two guide rails 2, two guide rails 3, or one guide rail 2 and one guild rail 3. In this way, it is easy for the child board 1 to be mounted on the mother board 7 and occupy less space.
However, in the case where the mother board carries many child boards and has a lot of electronic components to be mounted thereon, the existing guide and support structure cannot meet the high density requirement.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved guide and support apparatus that saves more space and is easy to use.